The wait is over! After weeks of beta testing, the ARRL launched the integration of Logbook of The World (LoTW) -- its electronic confirmation system -- with CQ Magazine’s Worked All Prefixes (WPX) Award on Monday, July 2. The WPX Award is the first of the CQ-sponsored awards that LoTW will support. More than 51,000 radio amateurs worldwide use Logbook of The World, and there are currently almost 432 million QSOs in the LoTW system.

“We had originally planned to introduce this new program in early April, but due to the introduction of the new DXCC fee structure and our new Online DXCC application, we had to push the date back,” explained ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B. “The ARRL’s IT Department has been diligently working on this. Using information and feedback from our hand-selected group of beta testers, our programmers -- led by ARRL Information Technology Manager Michael Keane, K1MK -- have spent many hours making sure that this will be a smooth integration. We know the Amateur Radio community is excited about this new program and we wanted to make sure it had gone through a rigorous testing before launching it to the public. By partnering the WPX Award with our LoTW program, the ARRL is giving radio amateurs throughout the world an inexpensive and convenient means of gaining credits toward CQ’s popular operating awards.”

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, concurred. “LoTW has significantly increased interest and participation in the ARRL’s DXCC, Worked All States (WAS) and VUCC awards programs,” he said. “We anticipate a similarly positive response to the addition of CQ’s WPX Award. Amateurs will be able to spend more time operating and less time chasing QSL cards.”

The process to apply for the WPX award via Logbook of The World is the same as applying for ARRL-sponsored awards (such as DXCC and Worked All States) via LoTW. Logbook users will notice that a WPX account has automatically been created for them on their LoTW awards page (see photo below). Anyone can sign up for an LoTW account. If you live in the US and plan on applying for ARRL-sponsored awards via LoTW, you must be an ARRL member (international amateurs do not need to be an ARRL member to apply for these awards via LoTW). Since the WPX award is a CQ-sponsored award, amateurs applying for this award via LoTW do not need to be ARRL members.

“This is an important milestone in a process that has been years in the making,” said CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. “The hams who participate in our award programs have been asking about using LoTW confirmations for CQ awards ever since Logbook of The World came online. We are pleased to finally be able to begin providing them with this service, and look forward to the addition of the rest of CQ’s awards, including Worked ALL Zones (WAZ), the USA-Counties Award (USA-CA) and the CQ DX Awards over the coming months. We thank the League’s IT staff for its hard work in making this a reality.”

Amateurs wishing to apply for the WPX Award via Logbook of the World will pay 12 cents for each QSO they use in their application. A separate charge for the WPX Award (and endorsements) is payable to CQ: Subscribers will be charged $6 for each award, while non-subscribers will be charged $12 for each award. Endorsement stickers are $1 each.